Dec. 2-5 Presentation Schedule

Dec. 2-5 Presentation schedule:

Tuesday
Christin
Keeley
Sarah
Ronaldo

Quinton - Individual Presentation

Wednesday
Jen
Nhung
Lindsey
Jamaal

Thursday
Joey
Chad
Ryota

Peer Review: Final Paper

On Monday, we peer reviewed the final paper. Those students who had drafts exchanged papers with one another. Students were asked to use the feedback to improve their drafts; revised drafts are due to me on Wednesday. The drafts with feedback will be returned on Monday, Dec. 1.

Nov. 19-21: Irish Poetry

On Nov. 19th, we first looked at a timeline of Irish history, noting where Yeats and Heaney fit on this timeline. Then, looking at the NPR site (linked below), we learned about the Easter Rebellion. We listened to a powerful reading of the Irish Proclamation of Freedom, the proclamation that began the Irish rebellion. Then, we listened to a reading of "Easter, 1916." Next, in pairs, students answered two of the questions they or their peers had written regarding "Easter, 1916." Many chose to focus on the repeated line, "All changed, changed utterly:/A terrible beauty is born" (lines 15-16).

After reporting out, we turned our attention to Seamus Heaney. To provide some context for his bog poems, including "Punishment," we looked at a National Geographic site (linked below) featuring a photo gallery of several exhumed bodies, some 1600 years old, recovered from bogs. In Heaney's bog poems (originally appearing in his collection North), these bodies become a lens to explore Ireland's tumultuous history (English/Irish and Protestant/Catholic). Thursday and Friday, we discussed Heaney's bog poems in depth, including "Punishment," "The Tollund Man," "Bog Queen," and "The Grauballe Man."

Next week, we'll largely focus on the final project. Monday will be devoted to peer review of the paper drafts. Tuesday, we'll briefly discuss two of Eavan Boland's poems, "Outside History" and "What we Lost" for a different perspective on Irish History (private vs. public). The rest of Tuesday and Wednesday will be devoted to group work in preparation for the post-holiday presentations.

Taking care of loose ends

Today, we debriefed from yesterday's library session, working our way through some of the e-books, online databases, and web sites noted on the Engl 133 class guide. Then, we watched a short video of a Joy Harjo reading, to get a sense of her voice. In their journals, students were asked to answer the following question: "Do you consider Harjo’s 'Santa Fe' to be poetry? Why or why not?" Then, we briefly discussed the 3 poems assigned last week: "Santa Fe," "A Poem for Myself (Or Blues for a Mississippi Black Boy)" and "The Jewish Cemetary at Newport." For more on Longellow's poem, please see the link below. Finally, groups met for 5-6 minutes to discuss their group presentation.

Tomorrow's homework:

Write one discussion question related to “Easter 1916” (pg. 265-267).

Write one statement/insight related to “Punishment” (pg. 496-7).

Monday - Library Day

Meet in the library Monday, Nov. 17th.

No class Thursday/Friday (Conferences only)

No class Thursday or Friday -- conferences only (see below). Don't forget to meet in the library Monday (HL-213)

Thursday, Nov. 13th (all Thursday conferences in HSA-50, my office)
1:20pm: Keeley
1:40pm: Ronaldo

Friday, Nov. 14th
10:00am: Christin - RLC-173 (Writing Center)
10:20am: Quinton - RLC-173 (Writing Center)

12:10pm: Nhung - HSA-50 (my office)
12:30pm: Jamaal- HSA-50 (my office)
1:00pm: Ryota- HSA-50 (my office)
1:20pm: Sarah - HSA-50 (my office)
1:45pm: Lindsey- HSA-50 (my office)

Monday, Nov. 17th
10:20am: Joey- RLC-173 (Writing Center)
10:40am: Chad - RLC-173 (Writing Center)

2:00pm: Jen - HSA-50

Group Work & Assignment due Monday, Nov. 17

Wednesday, we spoke briefly about WW1 poetry, looking at Sassoon's protest (link below). Then, we listened to Randall Jarrell read "The Death of the Ball Turrett Gunner" (link again below). Then, the take-home assignment for Thursday/Friday (due Monday, Nov. 19th) was distributed:

Read pages 250-258 (“Regionality”) in Vendler

“Regional poetry clothes the land in reminiscence, intimations of history, and imaginative power” (251).

“It is not ‘London’ that we see in William Blake’s ‘London’…but rather London-as-interpreted-by-Blake” (253).

Then, keeping in mind the quotes above, choose either “A Poem for Myself (or Blues for a Mississippi Black Boy)” (508-09), “The Jewish Cemetery at Newport” (518-520) or “Santa Fe” (495-496) and in ½ page to 1 page, double-spaced, explain how your selected poem is:

Not Mississippi, but Mississippi-as-interpreted by Knight
Not Newport, but Newport-as-interpreted by Longfellow

Or

Not Santa Fe, but Santa Fe as interpreted by Harjo

In other words, what does the poet see when he/she looks at Mississippi, Newport, or Santa Fe? What images, language, etc. does the author use to re-create this sense of place?

The rest of the class time was devoted to group work, to begin preparing for the final presentation.

Thesis Statements & MLA Citation

Today, we discussed the nuts and bolts of the final project. A handout with the assessment criteria was distributed. Then, we reviewed thesis statements. For more on thesis statements, click on the Thesis Statements - UNC link below. Together, we also completed a Thesis Statements in Literature Papers exercise. To review this exercise, go to: http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/writersref6e Click on Research exercises, MLA, and finally E-ex LIT 2-1. (You may have to create an account.)

Next, we discussed how to cite with MLA. For more on MLA, see Diana Hacker's web site: www.dianahacker.com/resdoc.

Specifically, the following information might be helpful:

How to cite a song:

Provide the artist or band name, the name of the song (in quotation marks), the album title, the producer, and the release year.

Example: Counting Crows. "Holiday in Spain." Hard Candy. Geffen, 2002.

Finally, we discussed using a citation generator such as NoodleBib. NoodleBib is available through the www.greenriver.edu/library web site. Select Cite your sources.

On Wednesday, please bring the poems or songs you plan to analyze for your final project. You will have time to work with your groups in class. If you haven't yet signed up for a conference time on Thursday or Friday, please do so on Wednesday as well.

WW1 Poetry: Assignment for Thursday & Friday

To begin thinking about the poetry of WWI, acquaint yourself with the years 1914-1918.

Here are some notable dates as documented on the BBC web site:

June 28, 1914 - Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, are assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia, marking the official start of the war.

April 22, 1915 - First use of poison gas by Germany.

November 11, 1919 - Armistice Day - The Armistice is signed at 5.00am and comes into effect at 11.00am. At 10.57am Canadian Private George Lawrence Price is killed with a single bullet to the chest while on patrol in Canal du Centre. He is the last soldier to die in action on the Western front.

To view a complete WWI timeline, click here.

Then, acquaint yourself with the genre by reading: “What is ‘War Poetry’?” and “War Poetry as Historical Fact?” These essays are available here.

Next, get to know a few of the well-known poets of the time.

Read John McCrae's “In Flanders Fields" as well as some facts about his life.

Read the biography of Wilfred Owen by clicking here. Then, read his poem “Dulce Et Decorum Est.” It is often considered the most famous WWI poem.

Read the biography of Siegfried Sassoon by clicking here. Then, read his poems “The Death-Bed” and “Glory of Women”

Finally, read about women poets of WWI, and read some of their poetry here.

If you’re interested in this topic, here’s another good site to explore: http://www.firstworldwar.com/poetsandprose/index.htm

Assignment: by Friday night, answer 4 of the 7 questions.

1. What is the theme or central idea in McCrae’s “In Flanders Fields”?
2. Discuss Wilfred Owen’s use of simile, metaphor, and personification.
3. In your opinion, what are Owen’s most poignant descriptive details? Why?
4. Compare the tone of Owen’s poem to McCrae’s. Are they different or similar? Explain.
5. Respond to the last stanza of “The Death-Bed.” Where does it leave you, the reader?
6. What does Sassoon mean by the line, “you believe/That chivalry redeems the war’s disgrace” (lines 3-4)
7. What themes do you notice in the poems written by women of the era?

Click here to get to the discussion board.

Thanks - I'll be checking in on the board and commenting as well. See you Monday!

Advising Day

Class will not meet on Wednesday, as it is Advising Day!

Poe, Sexton, Alexie, and Cervantes

Monday, we first finished up Poe, noting the abundance of alliteration, assonance, and rhyme in the poem.

Then, we broke into our final project groups to answer the following questions:

Anne Sexton’s “Her Kind” (209)
1. What does the speaker mean when she says, “A woman like that is misunderstood./I have been her kind” (lines 13-14).

2. What rhetorical strategies does Sexton use to support her main idea?

Sherman Alexie’s “Evolution” (149)
3. Why is the poem titled “Evolution”?

4. Why is THE MUSEUM OF NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURES in capital letters?

Lorna Dee Cervantes’ “Poema para los Californios Muertos” (174-75)
5. How is personification used in this poem?

6. Why does she write phrases/sentences in Spanish?

7. What is the significance of the final image, the shrieking blue jay?

All
8. Compare/contrast Alexie’s "Evolution" with “Poema para los Californios Muertos”? What similarities do you see? Differences?

9. What relevance do these poems have to life today?

Tuesday, each group will be asked to share their thoughts regarding one of the poems listed above. Then, to continue our discussion of public poetry, we'll look at a couple poems related to elections and Inauguration Day. (Don't forget to vote!)

Happy Halloween

We took a break from our normal readings to listen to some Edgar Allan Poe ("The Raven"). To hear it again, click here. We scanned the first stanza of the poem, identifying it as trochaic octameter. Then, we briefly touched on Poe's use of alliteration, assonance, and rhyme (both internal and end). Students were asked to finish this work over the weekend.

We also watched a wonderful, rare video of Anne Sexton. Click here to see it again. Keeping in the spirit of Halloween, we focused on "Her Kind," available in Vendler.

Our journal entry for today was to speculate on why "The Raven" continues to be so popular OR to discuss what Anne Sexton means in "Her Kind," when she says, "I have been her kind."

Finally, just for fun, students were asked to bring a Halloween haiku. They shared their work, and Jen's haiku was judged to be the best, although there were several close seconds.

On Monday, if your group has not given me your individual topics for the final project, I'll be asking for them! Happy weekend.

Group Project and Final Paper

We began by discussing the final paper (see handout).  Then, group members reported out on their assigned poem ("We Wear the Mask," "Harlem," "The Weary Blues," and "Lift Every Voice and Sing").  Tomorrow, given that it's Halloween, we'll have a little fun with Edgar Allan Poe.  Don't forget your Halloween haiku (optional). 

The Public Life

We began by reviewing Monday's quiz, noting the correlation between attendance and academic success. (Of those who were here both Wednesday and Thursday, 4 of 6 scored 44+ on the 45 point quiz. The average for those students missing one or both days was 27/45.) An extra credit assignment related to the quiz was distributed, due Friday.

Then, we talked (in a general sense) about the final group project and paper. Each person was asked to submit 3-5 ideas for the final project. From those, the following list was generated:

Poems Related to Relationships (Love/Marriage, Parent-Child, )
Performance Poetry/Poetry Slams
Nature Poetry
Women’s Rights/Feminist Poetry
Elegies
Music/Song Lyrics (Queen, Blue October)
Poems of the Harlem Renaissance (Jazz poetry)
Poems related to Civil Rights
Holiday poems (Halloween, etc.)

Wednesday, students will be asked to select their top three choices, and groups will be assigned by the end of the week, taking into consideration both topic and partner preferences.

During the last 15 minutes, we discussed general categories of poetry related to "The Public Life." Per Vendler, these included poems that commemorate communal celebration (the 4th of July), poems concerned with a crucial single public event (the bombing of an Alabama church in 1963), and poems written about "the state of common life, shared by some population in a certain time and place" (9). Then, in groups of 2-4, students analyzed groups within this tradition including Dunbar's "We Wear the Mask," Hughes' "Harlem," Hughes' "The Weary Blues," and Johnson's "Lift Every Voice and Sing." Students will continue work on their Six Steps for Analyzing a Poem (courtesy of Marcie Sims) tomorrow, reporting out during the latter portion of class.

Quiz & Rhyme

Today, we spent the first part of class taking a quiz. (This quiz may not be made up without a documented excuse.) Then, we discussed rhyme schemes, perfect rhymes, and imperfect or slant rhymes. For the last 15 minutes of class, we looked at some excerpts from poems, identifying how rhyme had been used in them.

Tomorrow, we'll begin thinking about poetry in "The Public Life" (See pages 8-11 in Vendler), and also begin thinking about the final group projects and individual papers.

Quiz Monday Oct. 27

For Monday, in a given poem, be able to:

1. Mark stressed and unstressed syllables
2. Identify the number of feet per line (tetrameter, pentameter, etc.)
3. Identify the pattern of those feet (iambic, trochaic, etc.)
4. Indicate whether the meter is rising or falling.

Also know the terms on the handout.

Don't worry about rhyme; we'll get to rhyme schemes after the quiz.

Friday Assignment (No class)

In lieu of class on Friday, go to http://discussbirches.blogspot.com/ and post a response to 2 of the 4 discussion questions. You may also reply to one of your peer's posts.

Rhythm

Today, we delved into the technical side of poetry. We talked a little about the history of the poetic tradition and then reviewed the following terms:

Counted line - lines have a regular number of beats
Free verse - lines have an irregular number of beats

Tercet – a stanza of three lines
Quatrain – a stanza of four lines
Cinquain – a stanza of five lines
Sestet – a stanza of six lines
Couplet – a pair of rhyming lines (often within one of these stanza forms)

We also learned to "scan" poetry, which involves identifying stressed and unstressed syllables. A stressed syllable is represented by an accent (/) and an unstressed syllable is represented by a breve (˘).

Once the stressed and unstressed syllables have been determined, we can identify how many "feet" a particular line has, and whether those feet are rising or falling (or, more specifically, whether those feet are iambic, anapestic, trochaic or dactylic).

The number of feet gives the line its name and indicates how wide the line is:

One beat or stress per line - monometer
Two beats per line - dimeter
Three beats per line - trimeter
Four beats per line - tetrameter
Five beats per line - pentameter
Six beats per line - hexameter
Seven beats per line - heptameter
Eight beats per line - octameter (See Vendler 661)

We practiced scanning on "To My Dear and Loving Husband" and will look at additional poems tomorrow, as this definitely takes some practice!

Reminder: Journals due Friday, Oct.17 -- or Wednesday

Journal entries are listed on the right. If you want to hold onto them to complete the mid-term, submit them on Wednesday. (No class Monday for In-Service Day.)

Groups Projects: Wed., Thurs., Friday and Tuesday

Nature as Metaphor

Your group will introduce the class to your assigned poem on either Friday or Tuesday (20 minutes). (No class Monday - In-service Day)

This project has 4 components:

1. A short presentation, setting the context for the poem. (Introduce us to the poet and provide any relevant historical information - written during WW1, during the Harlem Renaissance, etc.) (5 min.) Submit outline.

2. A journal entry: Write a question about your poem to be used as journal entry. (5 min.) Submit question.

3. A collage: Create a collage. Explain how the collage reflects your understanding of the poem. The collage can be hard copy or electronic. (5 min.) Submit hard copy or electronic file.

4. Class discussion: Engage the class in a discussion of the poem. Your group should prepare 3-5 discussion questions that encourage your peers to think critically about the poem. (5 min.) Submit questions and notes regarding answers.

You must be in class Thursday and on your presentation day in order to get credit for this assignment.

Assigned poems
William Blake: "The Lamb" & "The Tyger" (Sarah, Christin, Quinton, Jamaal)
Robert Frost: "Birches" (Ryota, Ronaldo, Keeley)
Walt Whitman: "A Noiseless Patient Spider" (Chad, Nhung)
Louise Erdrich: "I Was Sleeping Where the Black Oaks Move" (Jen, Lindsey, Joey, Forrest)

Points Possible: 100

Nature and Time

Today, we discussed how nature is an endless fountain of inspiration for poets. Because so many were absent today, I'll go into more detail about this topic on Wednesday. For now, get acquainted with Elizabeth Bishop's "The Fish," a poem within this tradition. Click on the link below (Elizabeth Bishop Reading "The Fish") and...

1. Listen to Elizabeth Bishop reading her poem
2. Click on each of the Elements of Poetry (Assonance, Denotation and Connotation, etc.)
3. Read the definition.
4. Look at the examples in the poem.
5. Complete the exercise (2 prompts for each element).

No class Tuesday. Use the time to complete the exercise above, due Wednesday.

Note: The mid-term will be distributed Thursday (due Wednesday, Oct. 22nd) and we will begin a group project. You must be in class both Wednesday and Thursday to get credit for this project. Happy fall.

More on Countee Cullen's "Heritage"

Today, we concluded that, in "Heritage," Cullen explores the tension he feels between his Christian values and African heritage. This tension manifests itself in the poem's:

• Structure (rhyme scheme, stanza division, line breaks, line length, spacing) -- Example: rhyming couplets
• Syntax --Example: “What is Africa to me?”
• Word choice (connotations, double-meanings, puns, slang) – Example: “So I lie,” adjectives: “strong” (4) “regal” (4), “barbaric” (13).
• Sound - alliteration: “sun or scarlet sea” (2), barbaric birds,” “cats crouching” (34, 35), Repetition: “What is Africa to me?” and “So I lie,” the “unremittent beat” (66)
• Imagery/figurative language (simile, metaphor, personification): biblical throughout, “like a baited worm” (78)

Homework for Monday: In about one page, compare/contrast "Heritage" to either Phillis Wheatley's "On Being Brought From Africa to America" or Hughes's "The Negro Speaks of Rivers." Consider their similarities (both in terms of content and form) and their differences. It might be helpful to list the formal constructs by category for Wheatley's poem or Hughes's poem (as we did with "Heritage), to better indentify potential intersections.

Please also read the section on "Nature and Time" (11-14) and the first three poems on the syllabus for Week 4 (Bishop, Blake, and Whitman).

Poems as Arranged Life

Before returning to specific poems, we spent the first few minutes of class talking about MLA conventions (quotation marks around poem titles, citing line numbers, etc.) We also discussed writing effective paragraphs (see link below) and writing assertively (avoiding "I think," "I believe" statements).

Then, we began a discussion of "poems as arranged life."

In the last two weeks, we've discussed how “poems originate in crucial moments of private life… (Vendler 27)

However, poems don’t simply record what has happened. As Vendler says, “Art interrupts the stream and constructs one segment or level of the stream for processing” (27).

Assignment: With your partner, choose one life moment from the newspaper that you feel would be a subject worthy of a poem.

Then, we took our discussion to the next level, considering how form reinforces and reflects content.

According to Vendler, "The poet discovers the emotional import of that life-moment by subjecting it to analysis; the analysis then determines how the moment is described, and the invented organizational form that replicates it” (27).

We looked specifically at Blake's "Infant Sorrow," outlining the formal constructions that reflect the poem's content. These include:

1. Contrast: Physical vs. mental (one stanza each)
Main verb in stanza one: “leapt”
Main verb in stanza two: “thought”
2. Environmental
The child’s dependency on his parents is reinforced by the poem’s structure.
Each stanza begins with the parents, and in the final stanza “they literally enclose him” (29) .
3. Adjectives: realistic (many) and supernatural (one)
Helpless, naked, loud, bound, weary vs.
“like a fiend hid in a cloud” (4)
4. Grammatical
“ –ing” adjectives to reflect what the baby can do (“piping,” “struggling,” “striving.”
Other adjectives to reflect what the baby is feeling (“helpless,” “naked,” “like a fiend,” etc.)

See summary on pg. 31.

Assignment: With your partner, determine possible formal constructions that would replicate/reinforce the poem’s content.

Also, students were given the opportunity to revise the assignment due today based on our discussion. Revisions are due Tuesday. Wednesday, bring a favorite poem to class.

Typicality, Tone, and the Harlem Renaissance

On Monday, we discussed several strategies a poet uses to construct a self within a poem. These included: construct temporal space; relocate the speaker in space and time; add depth; include details that make it seem as if the author has intimate knowledge of a given historical time and place; and ensure the speaker's motivations, justifications, and conclusions are reasonable.

Today, we added two more: typicality and tone.

Typicality is exactly how it sounds: the experience is typical rather than narrowly personal (Vendler 183).

Tone, too, is connected to identity construction: “Every poem suggests to its readers the tones with which they might give voice to it; and conversely, the tones you feel to be present, as you get to know the poem well, give you clues to the perceptions and emotions of the self, constructed in the poem, that generates these tones” (184).

In this context we discussed Whitman's "I Hear America Singing," and Hughes' "I, Too" and "Theme for English B." In their journals, students were asked to determine the tone (in one word) of either Whitman's poem or Hughes' "I, Too." Then, they were asked to explain what words (considering their connotations) and punctuation led them to this conclusion. The last ten minutes of class were devoted to finishing Thursday's character sketch.

Assignment for Monday: Choose one poem and explain how the author "constructs a self." In other words, how does the poet get the reader to "turn into" the speaker of the poem? Draw on the strategies we discussed this week. Choose any poem from Week 1 or 2 except “Ellen West.” Parameters: typed, approximately 1 page double-spaced.

Alvarez and Atwood

Thursday, to continue the theme of "constructing a self," we first discussed Julia Alvarez's "Dusting" and Margaret Atwood's "This is a Photograph of Me."  Several people commented that the child in "Dusting" did not want to live a life of anonymity but wanted to leave her mark on the world (unlike her mother). We connected this poem to ones we had read earlier, including Heaney's "Digging" and Dickinson's "I'm Nobody! Who are you?" We also discussed the symbolic nature of Atwood's poem, and the significance of the parenthesis in the final stanzas. Interestingly, the speaker's identify becomes less clear -- "It is difficult to say where/precisely, or to say/how large or small I am:/the effect of water/on light is a distortion" (19-23) -- as the poem progresses.  Finally, students were paired according to interest to write a character sketch of Ellen West, J. Alfred Prufrock, or the narrator in "Theme from English B," considering whether she/he was round or flat, static or dynamic.  We will continue this project on Friday. 

T.S. Eliot

Wednesday, we spent the entire class period discussing T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." Students shared their insights on the particular section they were assigned. Keeley mentioned that the inclusion of Michelangelo was significant, given his famous statue David, held to be a symbol of youth and beauty, a projection of the human ideal. This stands in contrast to J. Alfred Prufrock, a middle-aged man who describes himself as "Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse" (119). We also spoke of Eliot's use of simile ("Streets that follow like a tedious argument" (8)) and of repetition, the latter reflecting the mundane nature of life as well as Prufrock's belief that "There will be time." We mentioned too, that this poem falls in the modernist tradition, one that both looks back (to Homer's Odysseus in the final lines, for example) and forward, in an attempt to reflect the ever-changing world.

Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"

Today, we began with Dickinson, writing Journal #4: Does the language in "I'm Nobody! Who are you?" draw you in or distance you? Explain.

In her homework, Keeley concluded that "[Dickinson] likes not being someone because she sees that there is no privacy in celebrity." This ties in well with Dickinson's largely reclusive life. She wrote over 1700 poems in her 55 years, only publishing a few anonymously. Her world-wide fame came only after her 1886 death, upon publication of the first edition of her poems in 1893. Ronaldo characterized this poem nicely as well, saying it is "commentary on the nature of identity and individuality, both its relevance and irrelevance."

Then, we focused on Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," a poem first published in 1915 in Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. In the course of the discussion, we added two terms to our literary toolbox, dramatic monologue and stream of consciousness. Then, in groups of 3-4, students analyzed assigned sections of the poem, working through the Prufrock Analysis Worksheet. I look forward to hearing everyone's conclusions on Wednesday.

Due Wednesday: Two questions, one related to "Dusting" (360) and one related to "This is a Photograph of Me" (369).

Constructing a Self & Bidart

Today, we concluded our discussion of Ammons' "Easter Morning" and then turned our attention to "Constructing a Self," as outlined in Vendler.  We specifically considered how the poet gets the reader to "turn into" the speaker.  Strategies included:

~ Construct temporal space

~ Relocate the speaker in space and time (Heaney's "Mid-term Break")

~ Add depth (round vs. flat)

~ Include details that make it seem as if the author has intimate knowledge of a given historical time and place (Whitman's "Hush'd Be the Camps To-Day")

~ Ensure the speaker's motivations, justifications, and conclusions are reasonable (Harper's "Nightmare Begins Responsibility").

In this context, we examined Bidart's "Ellen West,"  answering the following questions:

1. Does Bidart construct temporal space within the poem?  In other words, do you get the sense that life has been lived prior to this moment?  Explain.

2. Does the speaker move through time/space within the poem?  Explain.

3. Does the speaker seem round (multi-dimensional, have depth)?

4. Do the details make it seem as if the author has intimate knowledge, in this case of an eating disorder?

5. Do the speaker's motivations, emotions, etc. seem reasonable?  Why or why not?

Tonight's homework:  Write a sentence about Emily Dickinson's "I'm Nobody! Who are you?" and T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock."

Heaney, Plath, and Ammons

Today, we worked in groups, revisiting the questions:

- What piece of life is it concerned with?

- Where and when is this life being lived?

- How does the author bring originality to the moment?

Each group discussed "Digging" and either "Easter Morning" or "Daddy."  Tune in tomorrow for each group's findings.  In the meantime, here are a few insights from the class:

"Digging" is "an observation and introspective point of view on inheritance, responsibility, and destiny.  A father's disappointment and loss is his son's progress and fulfillment.  A conflict between mundane obligation and artistic calling" -- Ronaldo Bryant

"Daddy" - "I feel it more than I can understand it." -- Nhung Tran

"This particular poem was interesting to read because of the imagery, metaphors, and passion that is evident throughout. Her points are...visually expressed, which draws in the reader and paints beautiful (yet dark) mental images" - Chad Albright

We also listened to a short clip of Seamus Heaney talking about his formative years, an interview which linked nicely to "Digging." The link is below.

9/24 - Poetry as Life

Today, we began thinking about poetry in the context of private moments: “Poems have their origins in life, especially in the formal or informal ceremonies that occur at crucial moments or phases in a single private life – birth, adolescence, marriage, death…(Vendler 1)

We looked specifically at Anne Bradstreet's "To My Dear and Loving Husband," Ben Jonson's "On My First Son," and Michael Harper's "Nightmare Begins Responsibility." We discussed both content and form, adding these terms to our literary vocabulary:

alliteration - the matching or repetition of consonants

anaphora - repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or verses

couplet – a pair of rhyming lines

elegy - a song or poem expressing grief for one who is dead (poem of mourning)

free verse - verse in which lines are different widths, and which does not have a regular rhyme scheme

Tomorrow, we will discuss A.R. Ammons' "Easter Morning," Seamus Heaney's "Digging," and Sylvia Plath's "Daddy." Due tomorrow: one sentence each for "Easter Morning" and "Daddy."

Due Monday: Choose any poem from the Week 1 reading list. In approximately one page (double-spaced), discuss the following:

~ What piece of life is it concerned with?

~ Where and when is this life being lived?
~ How does the author bring originality to the moment?

(from Vendler)

In closing, below are two good insights from today's homework:

"["To My Dear and Loving Husband"] is a proclamation of a woman's love for her mate. It's a love poem meant to say 'I know we'll be together forever." - Christin Helt

My thought on "Nightmare Begins Responsibility" is that he expresses both pain and fear, the agonizing pain of losing both sons after only one day of life...and the fear of his children's lives in a stranger's hands." - Quinton Bailey

9/23 - What is poetry?

Today, we looked at the article, “Definition of poetry splits the literati” and responded to the quote, “I would say, if [poetry] doesn’t have rhyme or metre, then it is not poetry, it is just prose. You can have prose that is full of imagery, but it is still prose.” (Journal #1) Then, in groups, we defined poetry, definitions we will return to at the end of the quarter.

I shared a quote from Helen Vendler, noting that economy of language and precise word choice are often cited characteristics of poetry:

“A word in a poem is used because it ‘fits’ the overlapping schemes of the poem better than any other word. From one angle, it fits because it is a word the speaker of the poem might ‘really’ use…From another angle, it fits because it has the right number of syllables for that place in the line. From yet another, it fits because it begins with the same letter as a word closely allied to it nearby in the poem. From yet another, it fits because it disrupts the expected rhythm and therefore introduces force into the line. From yet another, it fits because it inserts semantic surprise, on the one hand, or semantic confirmation, on the other, into the semantic configuration of the poem or stanza. Substitute another word for this one and you have a loss of force, a loss of surprise, a too-short line, an inappropriate diction for the envisaged speaker, or an absence of a binding phonetic link between a given word and another 'belonging' to it (as, say, an adjective ‘belongs to’ its noun.) Neither orators nor letter writers take such care with every word as poets do (3)”.

Finally, we discussed the homework: Write one sentence about each of the following poems:
“To My Dear and Loving Husband”
“On My First Son”
“Nightmare Begins Responsibility”
These poems will be the focus of Wednesday's discussion.

Monday, September 22nd - Welcome

Today was the first day of English 133 - Intro. to Poetry. We reviewed the syllabus and got to know one another a bit better. We have several writers in the class -- which is wonderful. When asked to identify particular areas of interest, students said Japanese haiku, macabre, the Beat poets, and Spoken Word.

For our haiku fans, this poem seems appropriate, given that today is the first day of fall:

First autumn morning:
the mirror I stare into
shows my father's face

Kijo Murakami (1865-1938)

I look forward to working with you all! Amanda